Even after being thrown into the oil pot, Orochi was still crying foul.
Did Edie not know whether he had poisoned it or not?
As the saying goes, the person who wrongs you knows better than anyone how wronged you are.
But at this point, explanations were useless.
With human and material evidence gathered, Orochi was undoubtedly doomed.
In this conspiracy against him, Orochi had only one way to survive.
Prevent Edie from suggesting "testing the wine glass."
At this moment.
Seeing Orochi thrown into the oil pot, the public was in an uproar.
A monkey show from start to finish lasted only about ten minutes, but the ending was astonishing.
"Did the Shogun really poison Kaido?" The spectators were all stunned.
In the oil pot, Orochi struggled continuously, desperately trying to crawl to the edge amidst his screams.
Kozuki Oden had no choice but to dodge his movements, carefully maintaining the balance of the plank above his head.
Suddenly.
Orochi roared, his neck suddenly elongated, splitting into eight.
Yamata no Orochi, with eight heads.
One of them had its eyes tightly shut, as if dead.
The other seven snake heads roared incessantly.
"So hot, hot, hot!!!"
His body became enormous, and the large cauldron could not bear his weight, finally tipping over with a bang, spilling all the scalding hot oil onto the ground.
Kaido-sensei looked surprised; even he didn't know Orochi possessed such power.
"An Ability User?" Edie feigned surprise, saying, "This form... Animal Type, Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Yamata no Orochi form."
In front of the barrier, King retracted his massive katana, his gaze coldly fixed on the transformed Orochi.
"He was struck through the heart and still isn't dead?" Queen was astonished.
"That's a Mythical Zoan. Eight heads represent eight lives. One just died," Edie explained.
Below the execution platform, the cauldron had overturned, and hot oil burned on the ground.
Orochi and Kozuki Oden were both released from their predicament.
At this moment, there seemed to be no difference between the condemned criminal and the shogun who condemned others to the Death Penalty.
Orochi gasped heavily, his seven heads staring directly at the people on the execution platform.
Kaido, King, Queen...
Edie, the ghost-masked man, Kurozumi Higurashi... "Hah... Hah... Wait, wait, I understand!"
All seven heads simultaneously locked onto Edie, roaring furiously, "It must be you!"
"Orochi."
Edie looked at him with an air of composure, as if at a drenched chicken: "Look at what you've done. Rebellion, disrupting the execution. How do you propose to resolve this?"
"Hahaha, interesting. Eight heads, eight lives?"
Queen laughed heartily, pulling out an extra-large AK47 from his back, several times larger than the mass-produced model.
"To match my size, this gun was finally forged just yesterday. Orochi, you'll be the test subject."
He shouldered the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
The actions were seamless.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
A puff of smoke erupted from the muzzle, and dozens of bullets instantly struck Orochi's body.
Orochi's seven heads thrashed wildly, and another head closed its eyes.
However, he did not die.
Instead, he cried out:
"Wait, Queen! This is...!"
The moment he spoke, King's figure flashed, and his blade descended.
Swoosh!
The sword light gleamed, and the six still-living heads were all simultaneously severed.
Time on Orochi's body seemed to freeze, the scene paused for several seconds.
Finally, with a thud, he fell into a pool of blood.
"Is he dead?" Queen muttered regretfully, "Don't just snatch someone else's prey."
King didn't even bother to respond to him, sheathing his sword and looking towards Kaido.
"Kaido-sama."
Kaido rose from his seat, walked to the edge of the execution platform, his gaze sweeping over Orochi's corpse, finally resting on Oden and the others.
"My apologies, someone disrupted the execution."
"Kaido! What about the promise?"
Kozuki Oden collected himself, looking up: "Will you release us now? If you're not satisfied, I have no complaints about doing it again!"
"I've lost interest."
Saying this, Kaido picked up a pistol and aimed it at Kozuki Oden's forehead.
Seeing this, the Akazaya Nine were greatly alarmed and angrily said:
"Kaido! You broke your word!"
"Ohohoho... Kozuki Oden, your will is incredibly strong. I admit you are a powerful person; you could probably endure even an hour."
Kaido grinned: "However, according to the agreement just now, you lost."
Kozuki Oden had no way to refute such an unreasonable statement.
Bang!
A gunshot.
The bullet struck Kozuki Oden's forehead.
"Oden-sama!!"
The Akazaya Nine watched their lord fall before them, their eyes wide with rage, their faces grim as they stared fixedly at Kaido.
They wished they could eat his flesh and drink his blood.
"You lot... one hour. I'll allow you to escape for one hour as a reward for your lord's bravery."
"Choose, will you seek revenge against me now, or... run for your lives?"
Kaido pronounced judgment on everyone.
"You bastard, I'll fight you, Kaido!"
Kanjiro cried, wanting to fight Kaido to the death.
Kin'emon grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it with enough force to seemingly crush it.
"We can only leave now! We have another mission, don't forget it!"
After a moving speech, the nine cast one last hateful look at the few people on the platform, then chose to break through the encirclement.
Edie shook his head. Did these few insignificant individuals really think they could get revenge on Kaido?
Twenty years later, without Monkey D. Luffy's appearance, they wouldn't be able to do anything... His gaze fell on the corpses of Kozuki Oden and Orochi.
Edie's expression was subtle.
They fought and fought, only to ultimately meet the same fate.
"King, in an hour, issue a bounty for them and hunt them down."
"Yes, Kaido-sama."
After giving orders to the two, Kaido then said to Edie, "You've brought me trouble."
He got the benefit and was still playing innocent?
Edie smiled: "Kaido-sensei, General Orochi was killed by you for rebellion. You need to find a new general."
Kaido grinned: "I will personally serve as General!"
...An hour later.
Bounty posters for the Akazaya Nine were immediately plastered all over the city.
Along with the bounty posters, an obituary for General Orochi was also issued.
He was publicly executed by Kaido for the grave crime of rebellion!
The new General would be Kaido himself!
The news spread far and wide, shocking the entire country.
Edie returned to the Research Institute, bringing back Orochi's blood.
The Lineage Factor of a Mythical Zoan Ability User—it would be foolish not to take it.
As for Kurozumi Semimaru... that old man, seeing the unfavorable situation, had disappeared somewhere amidst the chaos.
"Kuzo, go find Kurozumi Semimaru and the female ninja who tried to infiltrate the Research Institute yesterday. The female ninja needs to be alive."
Upon receiving the order, Kuzo immediately took action without a word.
Soon after, Monkey returned.
He released the power of the Mane Mane no Mi, transforming back to his original appearance.
He was dressed similarly to Kuzo, in a grey cloak and a ghost-face mask.
"Lord Tianfu."
"You've worked hard."
Edie sat on the sofa, leisurely brewing himself a cup of coffee, then poured one for Monkey.
"How are things outside?" he asked casually, handing the coffee to Monkey.
Monkey said: "Kaido's subordinates have already begun searching for the Akazaya Nine. They've focused their efforts on the outskirts."
"They might be hiding in the city, you know."
Edie shook his head, feeling speechless at Kaido's self-inflicted trouble.
He saw Monkey holding the coffee, hesitating to speak.
"Just say what you want to say."
"Yes, I just find it a bit strange... Your plan wasn't complicated, and Kaido seems to trust you excessively."
Hearing this, Edie couldn't help but smile:
"This isn't simple trust; it's just a calculation of interests."
"?"
Monkey was bewildered.
"You're asking why Kaido would believe it was definitely Orochi who poisoned him? And not suspect me?"
"Yes, under those circumstances earlier, if Kaido were smart enough, he would definitely have suspected you," Monkey nodded earnestly.
"You're still young, so you don't quite understand the tacit understanding between adults."
Strictly speaking, Monkey had lived in the cloning pod for two years, so his psychological age was actually only 2, but his physical age was about 10.
Edie took a sip of coffee and slowly explained:
"Does it matter if Orochi poisoned him?"
For Kaido, in that situation, it was merely an excellent excuse.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Eddie would expose Orochi's "rebellion," and then Kaido would execute the judgment.
Finally, Kaido would naturally become the Shogun of Wano.
"All I did was hand Kaido a knife."
Hearing this, Monkey buried his head in thought, and after a long while, he said:
"Kaido's mind works that fast?"
"You wouldn't think Kaido is an idiot, would you?"
Edie rolled his eyes and laughed, "From beginning to end, the only idiot was Orochi."
So, he died.